A 10-year-old boy raised his hand high Monday as he was sworn in to testify about a horrifying event taking the blame for a fatal gunshot that was fired by his mother.
Smiling during parts of his testimony and shedding no tears, the youth calmly recalled the events that led to the death of Jose Flores Martinez on June 3, 2004.
The boy's mother, Erika Lynn Ruiz, 30, is charged with murder. After her son initially claimed responsibility, she acknowledged firing the shot but said she killed Martinez in defense of herself and her son.
The boy told jurors his mother was on her knees, crying, after the shooting. He ran to a friend's apartment to get help.
He said his mother initially blamed the shooting on him when friends came to see what was wrong. After police arrived, mother and son were placed in separate patrol cars.
"I went with a girl police officer and (Ruiz) went with a boy police officer," the youth said.
He initially claimed he had shot Martinez, but told police the truth within 24 hours after spending the night in custody.
His fear, he told the jury, was "that they'd take me somewhere I'd never see my mom again."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/metropolitan/3321074
